Treatment of rawhide.



A. H. HENDERSON.

TREATMENT OF RAWHIDEJ APPLIOATION FILED APR.6, 1911.

1,020,498. Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

pores of the rawhide may fore, rawhide has been softened or UNITED srArEs PATENT I OFFICE.

ALBERT H; HEND ERSON. OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE HENDER- SON RUBBER COMPANY, OF BALTIMOQE, MARYLAND, A

LAND,"

7 '0 all whom it inlay concern: Baitknown that I, ALB T-H. HENDER- sox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, 'State of Maryland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Treatment of Rawhide, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates, first, to treating rawhide in the form of disks or slugs, or in fragmentary or granulated condition, in

such manner as to permanently expand the hide to considerably beyond its normal state and open its pores,

and thereafter impregnating it with rubber whereby it is made permanently flexible or resilient. Heretoswollen by a steaming or hot water treatment, but such practice has the disadvantage of introducing into the rawhide a'- certain amount of waterwhich, penetrating to the interior of the substance and there remaining, prevents the subsequent introduction of oils or rubber solutions; and if the rawhide thus subjected to such softening and swelling treatment is afterward dried out, it resumes its original condition without any useful result having been accoin 'ilished. In the practice of this part of my invention this result isnot found, for the agent employed for the swelling and the opening of the be removed and the substance still left. substantially-M form of'aispoii'gy mass and in ideal condition to absorb any solution of rubber or. oily or other material which it is desired to add to the substance in order to give to it the characteristic of flexibility or resiliency.

llriefly considered. therefore, the first part of my invention consists in swelling the rawhide by means of an agent. preferably miscible with either oil or water and which may be used either with or without heat; practically removing this swelling agent by means of a solvent, such as petroleum-benzin or coal tar naphtha; removing this solvent by suitable means, by draining and evaporation assisted by a current of air,.and lastly introducing into the spongy rawhide rubber in the form of a solution or that. of a heated fluid.

The reason for the preferred use of a swellin agent which is miscible with both oil an water is as follows :-Where, for example, plain water is used for swelling Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 6, 1911. Serial No. 619,405. 4

proved method, and in ooitronarron or many- TREATMENT OF RAWHIDE.

Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

rawhide it has been found difiicult to expel the water and replace it with either oil or rubber solutions; whereas by using swelling agent miscible with either'oil or water such displacement is more readily made on account of the mutual solubilities. When rawhide is swollen in a liquid composed of say one half water and one half oil, and-the water is removed by evaporation or heat, We have left one half of the swellin agent as oil which is soluble in many 0% the well known rubber solvents and which, it is obvious, will allow an interchange of solutions of rubber and oil. This therefore afi'ords a practical-method for the. introduction of rubber into rawhide in a swollen state and at the. same time one not too expensive. Efforts have been made to introduce rubber solutions into materials by various methods, but 'on account of the thick nature of the rubber solutions they have not proved suceessful. 'e

-My invention relates, secondl to uniting, solidifying or bringing to et er separate partislQ f rafliide treate as above; and thirdly, in a vulcaniz action to which the treated and solidified iaterial issubjected Various kinds of apparatusmay in carrying out the several steps of my imorder to better de-' scribe such sgepsl-show in theaccompanying di awing simple means obviously not applicable for commercial use.

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically an oil bath applicable for use in the softening and swelling of the material; Fig. 2 a percolator with diaphragms; Fig. 3,-a table or tray used for drying and evaporating purposes and also an air forcing means adapted to be used therewith; Fig. 4, means for using a cold liquid rubber solution; Fig. 5, means for employing in the treatment allot rubber mass or bath; and Fig. 6, means for solidifying the mass to be subse uently vulcanized by any well known-method.

The hide in the form of disks or slugs or in granulated form is thrown into a bath of suitable/oil, preferably animal or vegetable, or its derivatives, and subjected to heat for a suitable length of time. Fig. 1 shows by A an oil bath adapted for use in this step of my method. The action of this bath upon the material is to cause the swelhng thereof and the opening of its pores. The

- .its size by dium, A.

bath A will be heated in accordance with any appropriate heating me- Fig. 2shows a percolator B of ordinary form with a series of perforated diaphragms' later, after which the diaphragins are enecessively stored with thematcrial until the percolator is filled to its entire capacity. A volatile liquid solvent, aspetroleum-benzin, coal tar naphtha or the like is now admitted to the upper part of the percolator and drains throu h the material placed upon the perforated dlaphragms. The course of this liquid through the percolatoris preferably uninterrupted, the valve or cock; 0 at the base being open. It may be well,- ,how-- ever, under certain conditions, to allow the material to be subjected for a long time to the liquid. It isalsowithin my invention to use a percolator in which the action of the fluid is reversed with or without external pressure. The draining incident to the use of the percolator is followed by van action including theevaporation of the agent. and

the dryin of the material.

' material either above or below the table or.

A used are now enlarged or swollen to several times their original size and in tit condi- Fig. 3 s ows a foraminous tray or table D made' of wire, perforated metal or other-: wise. Material taken from the percolator is strewn over this table, and air under pressure, either cold or heated, is forced to the both by means of an ordinary blastmotor E of any approved construction. At the end of this stage the material is permanently of a dry spongy in the substantial form substance, very open-and st ll separated.

The disks, slugs or granules originally tion for the saturation of the mass with a p table D is immersed.

.. in a known manner.

liquid rubber solution. This may be done by a cold process as seen in Fig. 4, in which a vessel F of such dimensions as are required is shown containing a coldliquid rubber solution in which the material taken from the i This cold rubber solution nay be obtained in various ways known to chemical science. I preferably em loy a soultion of ordinary unvulcanized rub er in benzol.

Fig. 5 shows a vessel or bath F in which rubber or a rubber substitute may be fused mechanism for solidifying the separate The slugs or granules particles of rawhide treated as above. Such particles are passed into a hopper G, which may have a. revolving feeder g, and con veyed to a series of rollers H, H, H which tion of the rubber whichis present in the interior confines of the spongy material. This is aceom lished by employing the proper proportion of sulfur-in any form, which is preferably placed in the hopper and passed down through the rollers with the rubber-impregnated particles of rawhide. The rolls shown in Fig. 6 may be cold or heated. If heated, the heating is effected in any known way forming no part of this invention. The sulfur thus mixed with the rubber-impregnated. material is intended to be sufiicient to enable the carrying out of the vulcanizing process as far as required in the known way. Each portion or body of the material when it leaves the last roll contains enough sulfur to admit of the individual, vulcanization of that particular body, or to enable it to beunited with other bodies so that the vulcanization process may be carried on as to all alike and at the same time. The bodies of material finally passed through the rollers are in such shape to be vulcanized and also molded into any form which may be desirable in the art. as for example. tires for automobiles, or any other article of commerce.

While in the foregoing the agentpreferably employed in the swelling of the rawhide is broadly stated as miscible with either oil or water, I have found that ricin-oleic acid or any sulfoleie acid made from any suitable oil and known to commerce as turkey red oils, are effective for the purpose.- It to be understood that wherever rub ber is herein mentioned, andespecially in the claims, I wish to include rubber substitutes or reclaimed rubbers as equivalents thereof. Among the rub er substitutes is an importent and growing class of compounds, artificial in character, while others are natural products. Furthermore, with the rubber, however used, any of these substitutes or reclaimed rubbers, in smaller or larger quantities, may be employed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. The herein described method which consists in swelling and expanding rawhide nently. spongy substance, practically removing the swelling agent and introducing rubber to the substance,

substantially to the character of a permasubstantially as set forth.

2. The herein described method which con sists in swelling and expanding rawhide substantially to the character of a permanently spongy substance by subject-ing it to an agent miscible with either 'oil or water, practically removing this agent by means of a solvent, removing the solvent, drying the substance, and introducing rubber thereto, substantially as set forth.

3. The herein described method which consists in swelling and expanding rawhide substantially to the character of a permanently spongy substance by subjecting it to a bath Y 20 of oil, practically removing the oil by means of'a solvent, removing the latter by drainlngand evaporation, and introducing into the spongy substance rubber in-the form of:

a solution, substantially as set forth.

4. The herein described method which consists in swelling and expanding rawhide substantially to the character of a permanently spongy substance by subjecting it to a bath of oil, practically removing the oil by means of a solvent, removing the latter by draining Y and evaporation, and introducing into the spon substance rubber in the form of a heate fluid, substantially as set forth.

5. The herein described method which consists in reducing rawhide to fragmentary form, introducing a swelling agent to the fragments where y they are brought to a permanently spongy condition, practically removing the swelling agent, and introducing rubber to the swollen fragments, substantially as set forth.

6. The herein described'method which conform, introducin a swelling agent to the fragments where y they arebrought to a' form, introducin fragments, and introducing rubber to the latter, substantially as set forth.

7. The herein described method which consists in reducing rawhide to fragmentary a swelling agent to the fragments where y they are brought to a permanently spongy condition, practically removing the swelling" agent, drying the fragments, introducing rubber to the latter, and vulcanizing, substantially as set forth.

8. The herein described method which consists in reducing rawhide to fragmentary form, introducing a swelling agent to the fragments whereby they are brought to a permanently spongy condition, practically removing the swelling agent, introducing rubber to the fragments, and forming the fragments into a mass, substantially as st forth.

9. The herein described method which consists in reducing rawhide to fragmentary form, introducing a swelling agent to the fragments whereby they are brought to a permanently spongy condition, practically removing the swelling agent, introducing rubber to the fragments, forming the separate fragments into a mass, and vulcanizing, substantially as set forth.

10. The herein described method which consists in reducing rawhide to fragmentary form, introducing a swelllng agent to the fragments whereby they are brought to a permanently spongy condition, practically removing the swelling agent, drying the fragments, introducing rubber to them, sublectlng them to solidifying pressure wherey to form a combined mass, introducing a vulcanizing agent'during the pressure, and finally completing the vulcanization, substautially as set forth.

- In testinion whereof I afli'x my signature in presence 0 'tWowitnesses. sists in reducing rawhlde to fragmentary ALBERT- H. HENDERSON.

Witnesses:

P. W. JAMES, RAYMOND M. GLAEKEN.

. Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, -by addressihg' the Commissioner of Patents, I Washington, D. 0. 

